Biocenosis baskets save the day when filter shutdown far a week!

Question:  A hobbyist in the UK.

Schoolboy error...

cleaned filter on the pond in conservatory other weekend,and a week later our lass tells me i didn't turn pump back on..how she didnt notice far a week is behond me..she then tells me she turned it back on again...and guess what, pumped a weeks worth of rot from the filter into the pond, brilliant cheers babe,thanks for that..

Well as you can gather ammo(3) and nitrites(3) where through the roof, 50% waterchange got done by the wife,this was monday,the next day ammonia was 2 and nitrite was 2.. today ammonia is 1 and nitrites are 0..so there nearly back to how they were in less than a week..how is that possible..

Do you think its all down to the 2 anoxic baskets in the pond,bearing in mind theres 30 odd average 6" koi in there and it only 150 gallons..

Any thoughts?


Response: From Kevin

If you stopped your filter from running for over a week it was pretty much useless, then it's the anoxic baskets ( Biocenosis Baskets) that would not die even after a week or two or longer.  The anaerobic hydrotropic facultative bacteria would now take their oxygen requirement from another sources like nitrates (NO3), ammonia (NH3) or phosphates (PO4). If your pond filter was shutdown for a week and had no oxygen to feed the bacteria  definitely your bacteria would start dying within hours. 

Nitrate NO3

Phosphate PO4

I do have a question: Were the biocenosis baskets in the pond filter at the time with no water movement when it was shut down for a week? The only reason I'm asking because the bacteria that are used in the Nitrogen Cycle cannot multiply fast enough to convert  your ammonia to Nitrites and levels dropping so quickly in a small pond filter without the aid of the Biocenosis Baskets. Once your water started moving in your filter that then allowed the Biocenosis Baskets to start doing their job again and taking in ions from that movement.That's why keeping the water moving in the Anoxic Filter is so inportaint. In about 72-hours your system was back up to full force and you did not have to go through the Nitrogen Cycle again like in a conventional filter and wait 30-days and stress your Koi too much because of the two biocenosis baskets.

Ammonia NH3

Each ion is a useful food-source for facultative bacteria and in a power outage may save the lives of your Koi. This hobbyist was lucky he had a backup! Unforsee events will change everything in ponding if you don't plan ahead for those events.

Anoxic Filtration Book... Still free on Apple's iBook store

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ano...04698627?mt=11